Quick Pickled Spring Vegetables

April 25, 2012

One trip to the Farmers’ Market is enough to know that spring is truly here. Mounds of fava beans, pea shoots, and strawberries compete for space with kale, beets, and last season’s potatoes. My kids and I headed over last weekend to pick up some fresh foods and the obligatory honey sticks. When we returned home, our house was unpleasantly warm thanks to unseasonably sultry weather. It may have been too hot to cook, but it was the perfect temperature to put together some quick refrigerator pickles.

Pickled Spring Vegetables are an Asian-inspired quick pickle. Quick pickles are a fantastic use for all sorts of vegetables and do not require time or canning equipment. I used Easter egg radishes, fresh nantes carrots, and leeks from our trip to the market, though you could also use cucumbers, onions, daikon radishes, or just about any other vegetable you want to pickle. The brine is based on rice wine vinegar and lime juice that tempers the sweetness. These pickles have hints of flavor from slices of ginger, garlic and cilantro. Slice up the veggies and pour over the brine. The pickles will be ready to eat in under an hour. Letting them sit overnight will intensify the flavor, if they last that long.

Fill a clean quart sized jar with the carrots, radishes, leeks, ginger, garlic, and cilantro. Pour in the rice vinegar, lime juice, and salt. Cover and shake to unify the mixture. Place the jar in the refrigerator and let sit for one hour or more. Store in the refrigerator.

This recipe is not designed for canning. Rice vinegar has a low acidity, generally less than the 5% recommended for safe canning. Also, I think the processing of the vegetables would threaten their crispiness. Here is a great recipe for pickles. You could switch out the zucchini for the spring veggies in this recipe. Sweet and Spicy Zucchini Pickles